A HOST of successful Malaysian entrepreneurs gathered at the residence of New Zealand High Commissioner to Malaysia David Kersey in Kuala Lumpur recently.

The group, who are part of the University of Canterbury (Christ-church) Alumni, were there to commemorate the launch of a scholarship. The New Zealand scholarship, for Malaysian students, will be funded by the alumni through a fund set up by the university.

University of Canterbury chancellor Dr Robin Mann, and vice-chancellor Professor Roy Sharp launched the fund for the scholarship at the dinner which was attended mainly by Kuala Lumpur- based alumni and alumnae.

In a press release, the university acknowledged that “in establishing the fund, the University is indebted to the generosity of its Malaysian alumni who are helping to grow the fund both through financial contributions and through their advocacy of the University as an institution of excellence and first class study destination”.

Other instances of significant financial support to the university include the funds donated by Dr Gregory Hii Sui Cheng to ensure the ongoing awarding of the Gregory Hii Prize in Chemistry, and Ian Hong Yen Kong’s establishment of a scholarship in memory of his mother Tiong Guok Hua, for students in economics, engineering and science.

The University of Canterbury has had close connections with Malaysia since the inception of the Colombo Plan in 1950. It now has some 3,000 Malaysian graduates – the single largest group of alumni outside of New Zealand.